Gleason's Sporting World: Mets, as usual, have many question marks

Points to ponder while wondering if the Wilpons plan to do something about their baseball team in the offseason.

Kevin Gleason

Points to ponder while wondering if the Wilpons plan to do something about their baseball team in the offseason.

The organization is doing the right thing by protecting Matt Harvey's arm. It's just too bad Mets players aren't protecting his psyche.

One of the few feel-good stories of the Mets' season has only highlighted the team's ineptitude on offense. Of course, the Mets haven't singled out Harvey with a lack of run support. The Mets don't score for anyone. Their 7-3 win over the Marlins on Friday left us skimming the box score for typos.

There is only one explanation for a team this putrid offensively. The Mets shut down Harvey about 30 games after teammates shut down their season.

And in doing so, the Mets have forced us to examine the work Terry Collins has done since the All-Star break. All the good will from a 46-40 start evaporated by August. Now it's a slow drip to the end of the season, another lousy Mets season, four straight and counting.

On the same day the Mets failed to support Harvey, again, Bud Selig came out in support of the Wilpons. Selig told Newsday that he has "no concerns whatsoever'' over the team's financial shape.

Does he have any concerns, whatsoever, for the shape of the team's roster?

Or for Mets fans?

I'm not saying Selig should wrestle the Mets away from the Wilpons, even though I wouldn't storm the commissioner's office if he did. But nobody wants to hear Selig's supportive gestures for a family that has left the Mets resembling the Islanders more than the Yankees. The Wilpons better find a few dollars to make this team better next season, or the Mets will be able to fit their crowds into Court 1 at Flushing Meadows.

Some football teams excite you the way they play defense, not just for making the plays and minimizing points, but for punishing opponents on almost every play.

The 49ers are one of those teams.

The Niners bring it hard every down. They are fast. They are quick. And they lead the league in offensive players getting up slowly.

We rarely think what it's like to be the other team's fans after a game. How about being pumped to see your Panthers take on the visiting defending Super Bowl champions in prime time, then watching your guys get bullied and embarrassed by a Giants team missing three key starters?

By the way, Panthers receiver Steve Smith was on target ripping Cam Newton for sulking on the bench after being removed late in the game. Smith, the veteran, pointed out that Newton, the youngster, should have gotten "mental reps'' by studying backup Derek Anderson instead of pouting from the bench.

Such criticism usually is better delivered away from cameras and microphones. But at least two teammates have spoken to Newton in the past about getting down during games. This seems to have been the rare occasion when Newton, a marvelous talent, needed a public scolding as a teachable moment.

Usually when NFL sideline photographers refuse to yield the right of way, they are deservedly plowed over. I've always equated it to standing in the middle of the road taking pictures of oncoming traffic. When the cars near, you get off the road. Too many photographers refuse to flee the scene.

And every now and then, like on Thursday in Carolina involving Giants safety Antrel Rolle, the photog's inane insistence on getting in the way of an oncoming player directly causes an injury.

Players generally are entering that area off balance or falling down while still moving rapidly. It's a surprise that more players aren't hurt, given the clusters of non-players who crowd the sidelines.

Rolle came out of it with scratches and bruises. He was lucky. So was the photographer.

Reckless reports such as the one about Robinson Cano testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance only gives the sizable anti-media population additional ammunition.

Hacks like the one who reported the Cano rumor are to responsible journalists what apathetic teachers are to dedicated educators, or what dirty cops are to honest law-enforcement personnel.

They make us all look like we got our credentials from the inside of a cereal box.

The Fantasy football folks do realize that the non-Fantasy football folks couldn't care less about their Fantasy League team, right?

Mark Sanchez says he and Santonio Holmes are on the same page. Now if only they could encounter one another in the same playbook.

You know a quarterback-receiver relationship has a few holes in it when Sanchez, as told to the New York Post, makes a big deal out of Holmes practicing with him to improve their chemistry.

A quarterback and receiver spending time going over routes? What a novelty.

I'm still waiting for the Giants to reveal the identity of the guy wearing No. 13 on Thursday night.

kgleason@th-record.com; Twitter: @th_KevinGleason

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